Every Friday, TVO.org provides a summary of the most notable developments in Ontario politics over the past week.
Here’s what caught our attention:
Queen’s Park keywords
Baby, you can drive my (hybrid or fully-electric) car: On Wednesday, as first reported by The Logic, Honda Canada announced a $1.4-billion plan to build hybrid-electric cars in Ontario. The plan included $263 million in support from the provincial and federal governments, which have greater plans to transition Canada’s automotive industry toward hybrid and fully-electric cars. In a joint news conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Honda’s Alliston plant, Premier Doug Ford indicated his government will not bring back the electric vehicle subsidies it scrapped. Opposition parties took the opportunity to say they’ll implement electric vehicle rebates if they win the June election.
The province announced Friday it will bring electric vehicle fast chargers to five more ONroute stations in the province, for a total of 11.
Mining: In Thunder Bay on Thursday, Ford announced a “critical minerals strategy” for Ontario. This plan will guide the movement of raw material resources from the north to the south. These include materials used to make batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones, and pharmaceuticals. Lawyers and advocates for First Nations in northern Ontario tell CBC News they’re concerned First Nations will not be properly involved, and that the government will not address environmental concerns.
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Energy credits: CBC News reports there’s a provincial proposal to sell energy credits to companies looking to lower their carbon footprint. Businesses could buy credits and count them toward carbon-reduction targets. Critics say this would not reduce emissions.
This week, columnist Matt Gurney wrote a three-part series covering energy in Ontario for TVO.org.
Unmasking: Staff and students in schools will no longer have to wear masks as of Monday, but some boards asked for an exception. The Ontario government denied requests from public boards in Toronto and Waterloo to keep mandating masking. Hamilton’s public school board openly defied the province last week by deciding to enforce masking later than March 21. Board chair Dawn Danko has asked Hamilton’s medical officer of health Elizabeth Richardson to allow mandatory masking through an order under the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
The Ministry of Health says there was a 23 per cent week-to-week increase in COVID-19 vaccination appointments for children aged five to 11 following Moore’s announcement that masking would end. The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table published modelling Thursday predicting there will be a “manageable” increase in cases following the easing of restrictions.
This week, The Agenda asked if Ontario is ready to ditch masking.
Permanent PSW pandemic pay: Some personal support workers who received pay bonuses of $3 per hour during the pandemic will get to keep their raises. Ford confirmed this in Brampton Tuesday. Recently, the government promised Ontario nurses a $5,000 retention bonus.
Medical school: At that same Brampton announcement, Ford said Ontario will add spots to medical schools and residencies, calling it the biggest expansion in 10 years. He says the 160 new medical school and 295 new postgraduate positions will help prepare the next generation of doctors.
Childcare: During his Wednesday news conference with Trudeau, Ford said there will be an announcement on a deal to reduce child care costs “very, very soon.” This is the first time Ford has promised a fast approaching announcement on the federal child care plan, for which Ontario is the only unsigned province.
Polling: Government documents CBC News accessed through a freedom of information request show the Ontario government received its worst polling results of the pandemic this winter.
Staying out of it: Premier Doug Ford says neither he nor any of his party’s MPPs will support anyone running for federal Conservative party leader, and will not work on their campaigns.
Ejected: Late Thursday, Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath removed Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MPP Paul Miller from caucus. Miller says this is due to fabricated evidence, an assertion the NDP disputes. Horwath says the party found something while vetting Miller for the 2022 election that it found unacceptable. Neither Miller nor the party have said what this was, but the Toronto Star reports its sources confirm the ousting is not due to criminal behavious, sexual misconduct, or previous allegations of bullying, discrimination and abuse.
Return to work: Ontario’s public service will slow down its return-to-the-workplace plan, meaning about 30,000 people who have been working remotely will not be required to come in three days per week until mid-May.
More Ontario politics coverage on TVO
#onpoli podcast: Goodbye mask mandates
#onpoli podcast March 15, 2022: Goodbye Mask Mandates
Steve Paikin and John Michael McGrath discuss whether the decision to end mandatory masking is based on science or politics. They also have a surprising interview with Rima Berns-McGown, NDP MPP for Beaches-East York, about why she won’t be running for a second term.
Housing: In a column, John Michael McGrath wonders if Ontario will get a housing bill before the upcoming election. He writes: “We’re now almost two months out from TVO.org’s first reporting on the contents of the province’s Housing Affordability Task Force report, and we have yet to see anything resembling a bill from Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark. There’s a finite amount of time left in the political calendar; the house must be dissolved before the June 2 election, and anything that isn’t passed by May 4 will go up like so much legislative smoke. And the government still has to get a budget passed.”
Beyond the Pink Palace:
Leadership race: A new Ontario contender joined the race to replace Erin O’Toole as leader of the federal conservative party: Scott Aitchison, MP for Parry Sound-Muskoka and former mayor of Huntsville. The grisly guitar soundtrack to a video announcement he tweeted Wednesday drew more than one comparison to a pick-up truck advertisement.
Steve Paikin offered his take on who’s winning the race so far.
LTC mandates: Though the province is no longer making it mandatory, CTV News reports many long-term-care homes in Ontario say they will continue mandating COVID-19 vaccination for workers.
Ch-ch-changes: Health minister Christine Elliott will stop teweeting out daily COVID-19 numbers. Also, scientific director Peter Jüni is resigning from Ontario’s science table to take a research job at the University of Oxford.
Jerry Dias: The Globe and Mail reported that Jerry Dias, the labour leader who retired from his job as president of Unifor citing health reasons, is under investigation by the union for allegedly breaching its constitution. The union has not shared specifics. Unifor is Canada’s biggest private-sector union and represents 315,000 workers.
Coming out: Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Jeremy Roberts wrote about coming out while working in politics.
Healthcare harassment: TVO.org finished publishing its series on healthcare worker harassment. This week, we brought you the first-person narratives of a northern Ontario nurse who left the profession, a GTA doctor who’s seen an uptick in harassment in-person and online, and a respiratory therapist who compared coming into work with walking into “hell.”
TVO.org also published a Q&A with two researchers about abuse, violence, and burnout in the health-care system.
Online gambling: Ontario’s iGaming is set to launch next month, and while it’s been touted as a way to take online sports betting out of a gray market, the impact on many First Nations may be profound. Chief Kelly LaRocca of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation joined The Agenda to talk about it.
